Signs and Wonders (44 page)

“Impossible,” said the sorcerer.

“You had better make it possible,” said the king, “or you will all be cut into many little pieces, and your houses will be made a dunghill. But if you recall my dream from its darkness and read it for me, then you shall receive gifts and honors.”

The sorcerer answered, “O King, there is not a man upon earth who can read your dream if you do not tell him what it is. No king who has ever lived has asked such a thing of any magician or astrologer or Chaldean.”

The king dismissed them. And, in his fury, he commanded that all the wise men and magicians and astrologers and Chaldeans in the kingdom be killed. The decree went forth that they be slain. And Arioch, captain of the king’s guards, sought Daniel and his friends to slay them, also.

Daniel said to Arioch: “Why this hasty decree? Why do you seek to slay all the wise men of the kingdom?”

Arioch told him what had happened.

“Take me to the king,” said Daniel. “I have some skill at dreams and may be able to tell him what he wants to know.”

“I shall inform the king that you seek audience,” said Arioch. “If he refuses, you must die along with the others.”

He departed. Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to his friends. They all prayed to God for wisdom. Daniel fell asleep and dreamed. And he knew that this sleep vision was the one the king had been sent. Daniel said: “Blessed be the name of God forever. He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, for light dwells in Him. I thank you and praise you, God of my fathers, for you have made known to me now what the king must know, and have saved my life.”

There was a knocking on the door. It was Arioch and a company of guards. “The king grants you audience,” said Arioch. “Come.” They took Daniel to the palace, and he was ushered into the throne room.

“Are you Belteshazzar?” said the king.

Daniel bowed low and said: “I am now. I was formerly known as Daniel.”

“Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have forgotten, and to read its meaning?”

Daniel said: “What you have asked cannot be accomplished by all your wise men and your astrologers and your sorcerers. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and makes known what is to be in the days to come. This is the vision that God sent to your bed. In your dream you saw an image, huge and bright and terrible. Its head was of fine gold, its breast and arms were silver, its belly and thighs of bronze. Its legs were of iron, and its feet partly iron and partly clay. As you admired this image, a stone came hurtling out of the darkness and smote the image upon its feet. The image fell and was broken—the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold were broken into pieces and became like chaff on the threshing floor. The winds blew the pieces away, and the idol was gone. And, as you watched, the stone that had smote the image grew into a great mountain.”

The king stared at Daniel in wonder. “It is true,” he whispered. “This is what I saw. I remember now. What does it mean?”

“This is the meaning,” said Daniel. “Your dream is a parable of four kingdoms. The first of these kingdoms is your own, and yours is a golden kingdom, signified by the head of gold on the image. For you are the greatest of kings. You have power and strength and glory. All the places men dwell, and the beasts of the field and the fowl of air, have been given into your hand by the God of hosts, and you rule them all. You are this head of gold. But your kingdom shall vanish. After you shall rise another kingdom, a lesser one, signified by the silver arms on the image. And that, too, shall vanish, and after that kingdom shall come another, this one of bronze and lesser still. Then a fourth kingdom shall rise. This one shall be strong as iron, breaking the other material into pieces. The iron men of this kingdom shall march everywhere, breaking, bruising, prevailing. These are the names of the kingdoms: After the golden kingdom of Babylon comes the silver kingdom of Persia. Then the bronze kingdom of Greece. And then the terrible iron kingdom of Rome. And Greece and Rome are names unknown to you; they lie in the future. But they will come.”

“Speak, wise youth. What of the stone, the dreadful stone that broke the image to pieces, and the iron, also?”

“The stone …” said Daniel. “The stone is God’s wrath hurled upon the arrogant kingdoms of men—none of which shall endure. For God in heaven shall raise up people to destroy them, to break them into pieces and consume them. Then God shall make another kingdom. And that one shall stand forever. God’s own kingdom! And it shall endure. The Lord sent you this knowledge, for He wanted you to know.”

“My sorcerers and astrologers and wise men are babbling children compared to you,” cried the king. “I honor your god, and I honor you whom he has sent to reveal secrets. I will make you a great man in my kingdom, and your friends, also.”

The king did as he had said. He made Daniel the chief man in Babylon after himself, the head of all the governors in the kingdom, and the chief among his wise men. And Daniel’s friends, whom the king knew as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were made governors.

The Fiery Furnace

Now, there were at court certain princes and captains and counselors who envied Daniel and feared the growing influence of the Hebrews—and plotted their downfall. The occasion was ripe, for the king had bade his jewelers to make the largest golden idol ever wrought. It was seventy feet high, cast in solid gold, with eyes of sapphire and a ruby set in its navel. It stood on the plain of Dura, and when the sun hit the golden idol its light dazzled the countryside. The king was very proud of this great jeweled image, which had no rival in any other kingdom. And he readily approved a decree offered by the wicked counselors. A herald went throughout the land, proclaiming: “To you it is decreed, O people, ye of all nations and languages within the realm of Babylon, that when you hear the music of cornet, flute, or dulcimer, you shall fall down and worship the golden image that the king has raised. Whosoever does not fall down and worship the image shall be cast into a fiery furnace and given to the flame within an hour of his refusal.”

This the herald proclaimed in every corner of the land. Musicians went out to all cities and villages, and walked along the streets playing flute, cornet, and dulcimer. And when the music was heard the people prostrated themselves and worshipped the golden idol.

Then a prince of the realm went to Nebuchadnezzar and said: “Behold, O King, certain of your subjects ignore your decree and fail in their worship of the golden idol. They hear the music and walkthrough it as if they were deaf, and do not bow down to the great image.”

“If this be true, they die,” said the king. “Who are they?”

“They are the Jews whom you chose to govern—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.”

“Bring them here!” said the king.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken before the king. He said: “It has been reported to me that you disobey my edict concerning the golden idol, and do not prostrate yourselves and worship the image when you hear the sound of its music.”

“It is true,” said Shadrach. “We have not bowed down and worshipped the golden idol.”

“According to my edict,” said Nebuchadnezzar, “you should immediately be cast into the furnace. However, because of my esteem for Belteshazzar, whom you call Daniel, I will pardon you on condition that you obey my decree hereafter, and prostrate yourselves when you hear the music, and worship my golden idol.”

“You are gracious, O King,” said Meshach. “But our God, maker of heaven and earth, has uttered laws and commandments to us. The first of these is that we worship Him only, and do not bow down to any idol made of wood or stone or gold or brass, or any material that can be wrought by man.”

“Do you choose the furnace?” said the king.

“We do not choose; we are chosen,” said Abednego. “We cannot serve your gods or worship your idol.”

Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and ordered his men to heat the furnace seven times hotter than it had ever been heated, and bade them bind the three Hebrews and cast them into the flames. The soldiers seized them. They were bound and carried to the furnace in an open cart. A great crowd gathered in the streets and followed them to the furnace to watch them burn. Men stoked the furnace, piling on wood to make it seven times hotter than it had ever been. The flames grew so hot that tongues of it shot out of the furnace belly and licked up the men who were stoking it, and consumed them. But other men took their places and threw wood upon the fire.

The flames mounted higher. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taken by the arms and legs and flung into the midst of the fire. And the tongues of flame licked out and enwrapped the soldiers who had cast them into the furnace, and consumed these men. And the king was smitten with wonder. For he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego standing upright in the midst of the flame, even in the belly of the furnace. They were standing and conversing, and they were unbound because their ropes had burned. Nor were their garments burned.

As he watched, as he gazed into the furnace and felt its heat on his face, he saw a fourth among them—the figure of a taller man formed from the flame itself and casting a light that made the fire look dark. And Nebuchadnezzar whispered, “Oh, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are unharmed. And the form of the fourth is like an angel of god.”

Then, despite the terrible heat, the king went closer to the furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! You servants of the most high god, come forth!”

The people watching saw the three of them walk out of the furnace and bow to the king. Not a hair of their heads was singed, nor were their garments charred. Nor did they smell of fire. Nebuchadnezzar said: “Blessed be the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel to deliver his servants out of the fiery furnace. I praise your god, who caused you to break my statute and give your bodies to the flame rather than serve any other god except your own. And this is my decree, to be proclaimed throughout my realm: Anyone who speaks anything amiss against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut to pieces and his house made into a dunghill.”

The royal guards rounded up all the princes and captains and counselors who had been plotting against the Hebrews, and they were put to the sword in a single night. The king restored Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to their posts and sought Daniel’s counsel more eagerly than ever. And Daniel and his friends governed Babylon, and the country was at peace.

King in the Grass

Again, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed, and again he was troubled. He remembered his dream this time, and called in the wise men, the astrologers, and the soothsayers. He told them the dream and asked for an interpretation. They pondered and conferred for three days, but they could not read what had appeared to the king at night. He dismissed them and called Daniel. He said: “O Belteshazzar, master of magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy god is in you and no secret defies you. Read me my dream, I pray.”

“Do you remember it?” said Daniel.

“I do,” said the king. “I beheld a tree, but its girth was thicker than that of any tree, and it stood taller than any tree I have ever seen. Its leaves were delicately shaped and of a beautiful green. Its boughs were hung with fruit, gold and red globes of fruit. There was enough to feed the fowls of air. And the shadow of its boughs was enough to shelter the beasts of earth. Then there was a flash of light and the sound of thunder. And a bright one descended from the sky. He was a watcher and a holy one, an angel of god. He stood at the tree and held a flaming sword. He cried, ‘Hew down the tree and cut off its branches! Shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit! Let the beasts depart and the fowls fly away!’ And the beasts went from the shade of the tree and the birds flew upward. And the angel cried, ‘Leave the stump of the tree in the ground, and let its roots be untouched. Bind the stump with a band of iron, and let it stand in the tender grass of the field. Let it dwell among the beasts and the grass. I say this by the decree of the watchers and the demand of the angels so that all men may know that God rules, that His wrath is flame, and that all must shelter in the shadow of His law.’ That is what I saw in the night, O Hebrew, and what I heard. I do not know what it means, but my spirit is troubled. Read me the dream, I pray.”

Daniel was astonished, listening to the king. He was troubled by what he heard. He pondered for a while but hesitated to speak. The king said: “I know that this vision is a terrible one. Do not fear to tell me its meaning. I am king and must be prepared to hear the worst.”

“My lord, I wish that your enemies had dreamed this dream, and that I could apply its meaning to them,” said Daniel. “The great tree you saw, whose top reached the sky, whose fruit was abundant, whose branches sheltered the birds and whose shade invited the beasts of earth, that great beautiful tree, O King, was you, Nebuchadnezzar. For you are grown strong and great. Your stature reaches to the sky, your dominion to the end of earth. And the angel came and said: ‘Hew the tree down, but leave the stump in the ground to stand among the beasts and the grass.’ And this stump is what you will become, O King.”

“Must I be hewed down?” whispered Nebuchadnezzar. “Must I die even in the flower of my years?”

“No,” said Daniel. “You have displeased God, but He does not punish you with death. The stump shall remain, as the angel decreed. You shall live and you shall keep your kingdom. But first you shall be punished. You shall be driven from mankind. Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall eat grass like an ox, and be wet with the dew of heaven. You shall sleep in the fields and rise in them, and be as an ox among cattle. And you shall live so for seven years. Afterward you shall be a man again, a king. And, if you break off your sins and raise no more idols, and practice righteousness, and cancel your wickedness by showing mercy to the poor—then you shall be allowed to reign, and all your greatness shall be restored to you.”